“Band Aid 20″ Now Recorded

The 20th anniversary version of “Do they Know It’s Christmas” was recorded yesterday and will be credited to “Band Aid 20.” BBC News entertainment reporter Ian Youngs was inside Air Studios in London for the recording and blogged it here (posts in reverse chronological order):

AIR STUDIOS, LONDON :: 1955 GMT
Bono has been delayed so I leave the studio. There is a single candlelit table set up in the centre of the hall where those still working on the song, including producer Nigel Godrich and Travis singer Fran Healy, are about to eat sushi.

A helper passes Bob Geldof two things from fans outside – a note from someone claiming to have very early Boomtown Rats tapes and an envelope simply marked “Donation”.

AIR STUDIOS, LONDON :: 1745 GMT
Most artists have left and the studio is emptying. Bob Geldof and Midge Ure come back to give us a round-up of how the day has gone.

“It’s been fantastic, we could ask for nothing better,” Ure says.

“We’ve had the creme de la creme of what the UK’s got to offer. The quality of the singing and the quality of the musicianship is unbelievable.”

Midge Ure and Bob Geldof were delighted with the recording
Geldof adds his tribute to the artists, adding a request for everybody to buy one – or more – copies of the single when it is released on 29 November.

“For some reason, this country throws up people who can play rock music and it’s world-beating,” he says.

“But the best thing of all is the attitude. What happened in this room today is properly important and memorable and will be remembered.”

….AIR STUDIOS, LONDON :: 1130 GMT

Outside, a media circus has sprung up with a line of TV cameras leading up to the studio doors.

Jamelia is the next star to arrive, with her daughter. She comes into the press booth and grabs a nearby box of cookies before hiding it under the table when a photographer starts taking pictures.

She will sing lines with Will Young – she does not know which yet – and says it was “such a huge thing to be involved in”.

Will Young and Jamelia shared the limelight
“Of course, we can’t stress any more it’s for a fantastic cause and something I truly believe in,” she said, revealing she would be travelling to Rwanda in January.

“I’m using my popularity to create awareness for something that’s so real, it’s still here. It’s very sad that we’re living in a world where we want for nothing but not too far away, there are people in 100% poverty.”

The atmosphere was “a lot more relaxed than I expected”, she says, adding she got “the biggest telling off ever” from her mum after referring to Band Aid as “that song”.

Rom-com writer Richard Curtis is outside and Rita Gilligan MBE, a waitress from the Hard Rock Café, who are providing the catering, also pops in.

She would serve 200 meals on Sunday, she says. “We’ll feed them all. Feed the world, as they say.”

….AIR STUDIOS, LONDON :: 0920 GMT
I am called into an office to listen to a rough version of the parts of the song that have already been recorded.

Coldplay’s Chris Martin has done the opening verse, originally recorded by Paul Young. That will definitely be in the finished version – but everything else is up for grabs.

The Sugababes sang Simon Le Bon’s line from the 1984 Band Aid
In the rough cut, Dido has done Boy George’s part, Sugababes have taken Simon Le Bon’s place and The Darkness’ Justin Hawkins sings Bono’s famous line: “Well, tonight thank God it’s them instead of you,” with a typical falsetto flourish at the end.

Bono has also re-recorded this part and sent it down the phone line from Ireland.

Dizzee Rascal’s section is startling, and brings the song firmly into the 21st Century. It works fantastically. The Darkness’ elaborate guitar work plays over the part where the chorus will come in later.

AIR STUDIOS, LONDON :: 0845 GMT
The great Band Aid bandwagon is already in full motion, with Sir George Martin’s recording studio in Hampstead, north London, a hive of activity. There is already a gaggle of fans and photographers outside the impressive converted church.

We are not allowed into the studio because Coldplay’s Chris Martin is already in there recording something. Scruffy and blending in with all the beardy studio blokes, he wanders out into the foyer after a while and chats to a few people.

It transpires that quite a lot of the song has already been recorded – the music done on Friday and many of the solo lines done on Saturday.

All the talk is of Dizzee Rascal’s contribution – he has written rap lines that act as responses to lines sung by The Darkness’ Justin Hawkins.

I was 11-and-a-half when the first Michael Buerk documentary came out, and I remember all of that like it was yesterday.

I was old enough to understand what I was seeing.

So I’d like to think that fans of people like Busted and Rachel Stevens – the younger fans out there – would maybe not understand all the stuff about dropping the debt and the G8 summit, but at least understand that buying this record will go to help a kid just like them elsewhere who’s not as fortunate as them.

I keep remembering from the first time round saying ‘oh look at Boy George, he had red hair and, ooh, Sting had a curtain hairstyle’ – looking and observing who was there.

The fact that people are going to be doing that in 20 years for us hasn’t quite sunk in yet.

I was here yesterday doing bits and pieces. I did a lot of stuff with Ms Dynamite – we did a duet thing, we harmonised and it was really nice….. [BBC]

UPDATE
Compare the new version of the song with the ’84 original and one recorded in ’89 (didn’t even know about tht one) here. Not to be a killjoy or Scrooge, or whatever, but the new one is the least interesting of the three, the main difference being it lacks the rhythmic pulse of the original, which was also more passionate.

im very sorry but they have ruined the band aid song if you compare the new with the old it sounds like a load of dying cats.In my oppinion they will nerver sell as many for the charity as they did the original they should just re-release the old one. And RAP in band aid i dont think so!!!!!!

Eric Olsen

I entirely agree they should have recorded an all new song this time around, or else just rereleased the old one as Lisa says: the new one is the same but less so

Laura

Well what can i say – its not a dissappointment because i never expected it to be as good as the original. In my opinion a totally new song should have been written. People were expecting it to be as good as the original and it never would be. I personally hate it and i agree what were they thinking putting a rap in it? They will go down in history being the people that ruined the song

Eric Olsen

it would appeaar this time around you can’t go back

Craig O

Hate to say it but it sounds really bad in the clip I heard. Most dissapointing is Bono sounds so bored.

Eric Olsen

yes, he said he didn’t want to reproduce his “Springsteen imitation” from 20 years ago, but it sounds like he’s singing in his sleep

http://www.pinkspage.com Leo Leahy

Ms Dynamite is a very talented young woman and she is rather sensible. She is the best person in this!!! Band Aid 20